The chance of a premiership three-peat has spurred Kealba-Green Gully on to the North West Metropolitan Cricket Association Luscombe Shield finals.
The Cougars secured a home semi-final and are primed for an assault on what could be a once-in-a-lifetime chance of a third consecutive title.
Cougars captain Evan Long told the Weekly his side suffered motivation “ebbs and flows” during the home-and-away season but he was counting on them to rise to the challenge of finals.
“There’s times when they’ve been really switched on and there’s other times when they go through the motions,” he said.
“Sometimes you do what you can to win and move on. It’s a tough gig to be really motivated every week, depending on who you’re playing and conditions and all that.
“I know when it’s time to go, they’ll be up and about… The motivation of a premiership has always been there.”
The Cougars have not strayed from the grittiness that won them the past two flags.
They still have the stingiest bowling side with a better wickets-per-runs average than any other.
The defending champions have six bowlers with 15 wickets or more and averages ranging between 12 and 16. Matthew Nadzielski (23 wickets at 12.7), Danny Viani (20 at 13.4), Jarrod Catania (18 at 16.5), Andrew Webb (17 at 13), Long (16 at 13) and Tristan Krizanic (15 at 12.2) have served them well this season.
“It’s always been our strength,” Long said of the depth in the bowling department.
“We’ve been able to spread the load. If it feels like it’s getting away, we can change something and it usually flicks it back to our side.”
Not much about the Cougars is just average, but their batting line-up falls in that category. Aside from Andrew Lambropolous, with 387 runs at 38.7, and Long (290 runs at 26,) no other batsman has passed 200 this season.
Other clubs might cringe at a lack of large run-making options, but not the Cougars. As long as the batsmen provide a meaningful score to defend, the bowlers will back it up.
This was apparent in the past two low-scoring grand finals against Pascoe Vale Central – the Cougars defended a measly 151 last summer and only had to chase down 124 for victory in 2011-12.
“Ideally, I’d love to see us go out there and make 250 every week, but its not going to happen,” Long said.
“The times that we’ve batted well as a unit we’ve made enough runs, and as you can see with the bowling team that we’ve got, we’re confident we can defend a half decent total.
“We know we can do it when it matters most.”
Meanwhile, Sydenham Hillside has missed the finals after a last round loss to minor premiers Pascoe Vale Central.
The Storm failed to usurp Centrals’ small total of 111, losing by five runs and paid the ultimate price.
